Electroplated yellcjw-metal



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREW ONEILL, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

ELECTROPLATED YELLO'W-METAL.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 257,605, dated May 9,1882.-

Application filed July 29, 1879 To all whom it may concern Be it knownthat 1, ANDREW ONEILL, a citizen of the United States, residing at NewHaven, in the State of Connecticut, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Electroplated YellowMetal, of which the following is aspecification.

In my specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 179,462, datedJuly 4, 1876, I describe and claim a f machine-planished, nickelplated,polished, and enameled sheet of copper, brass, or yellow-metal as a newarticle of manufacture, the process therein set forth having referencemore particularly to the production of electro-nickeled copper. Ihavesince discovered that ordinary pack-rolled yellowmetal furnishes abetter product without being machine-planished--that is to say, withoutbeing cold-rolled,owing to thehardening effect of this operation, whichunfits cold-rolled yellow-metal for general use, whilethe smoothness ofthis metal as it comes from the packrolls renders cold-rollingunnecessary preliminary to electroplating. I have discovered, moreover,that at a trifling expense compared with the advantages whichresultcopper could be evenly electro-deposited on the backs ofnickel-plated sheets of yellow-metal, or on one side of a sheet, theother side of whichis subsequently electro-nickled, and have so combinedthe three metals, thereby producing for the first time in the art ofmanufacturing plated sheet metals (so far as I am informed) anelectro-laminated sheet composed of three different metals, while thearticle of this description to which I propose confining my presentinvention, composed of a sheet of yellow-metal elec' troplated withnickel on one side and with copper on its other side, is a cheap and, inmany respects, superior substitute for nickelplated copper, and anarticle never before known or used.

The adaptation of electro nickeled and 00p pered yellow-metal forparticular uses at a given weight or cost by the variation of therelative thicknesses of the respective laminm can" be most readilyeffected and is an ele ment of superiority. For example, for bathtubsand the like, where 'the nickel surface alone is exposed to wear, a muchheavier plating of nickel can be furnished in sheets of a given costthan in nickeled copper sheets,while L the stiffness ofthe yellow-metal,as compared with copper, renders it superior to solid copper for suchuses, and even a light electro-deposit of copper covering its back amplyprotects it against corrosion.

- In producing my said composite sheet of yellow-metal, nickel, andcopper I prefer to proceed as follows: Ordinary commercial sheetyellow-metal (pack-rolled) is simply secured and pickled, or otherwisethoroughly cleansed, soas to prepare both sides to receive anelectro-deposit. The sheets are then clamped together in pairs, back toback, by means of edgeclamps, which may be of wire, and the pairs ofsheets are'suspended between suitable anodes in a nickel-plating bath,and connectedwith the negative pole of a powerful dynamo-electricmachine in customary manner. When the faces of the sheets ofyellow-metal have received a nickel-platin g of the desired thicknessthe pairs of sheets are removed from the nickeleration forming effectiveresists for each other without other means, owing to the describedrelation of the parts in the plating-baths. The extreme edges of thesheets punctured for clamping, and acted on more or less by theplating-currents in both baths, must subsequently be trimmed off; butthis waste in large operations is more than compensated for by theeconomy in time and labor as compared with preparing, applying, andremoving ordinary resists. The latter may, however, be used in carryingout this invention, the whole of one side of each sheet being reservedat the first plating operation and the previously plated sides at thesucceeding plating operation.

The ordinary baths are used for plating, the double sulphate of nickeland ammonia for the nickel and the sulphate of copper for the copperbeing preferred; but baths of the cyanides of these metals will alsoanswer; and in place of nickel-plating, silver or other noble metalplating may be used; but this I find is in no respect better thannickel-plating, while it is inferior in durability as well as in'cheapness.

. If a soft-planished product, adapted to be spun or stamped, isdesired, the composite sheet, after it is taken from the lastplatingbath and dried, is simply buffed and lacquered in the mannerdescribed in my aforesaid specification, forming part of Letters PatentNo. 179,462, without cold-rolling; but if the composite sheet beintendedto be worked up from the sheet by cutting and bending simply, as in themanufacture of culinary vessels, washboilers, bath-tubs, and the like,and for shipsheathing, it is subjected to cold-rolling, which compactsand toughensthe electro-deposits before said finishing operations.

The composite sheet is eminently adapted for use in the manufacture ofculinary utensils, liquid-measures, wash-boilers, and the like, as thenickeled surface is durable and inoxidizable, while the copper side forthe exterior is very much less liable to tarnish than nakedyellow-metal,with its large percentage of baser metal, (zinc,) and thestiffness of the yellowmetal base serves with obvious advantage toprevent indentation.

Finished in either of the ways above described the composite sheet worksup in the various operations of sheet-metal working-such as doubleseaming and grooving-as well as ordinary sheet yellow-metal or copper,and softplanishcd, as above sctforth, it may be stamped or spun withrepeated annealings, if necessary, without injury to the base or eitherplating, and without impairing the union between the laminae, while itmay be made at a cost less than that of ordinary bright sheet-copper ortinned copper, used for analogous purposes.

I do not claim herein the within-described method of reserving thesurfaces of metallic sheets in electroplating-baths by means of similarsheets undergoing the same process, nor an electro-laminated sheetcomposed of three different metals, broadly considered, but herebyreserve the right to claim the same in a future application orapplications for Letters Patent.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent- As a newarticle of manufacture, the withindeseribed composite sheet metal,consisting of sheet yellow-metal electroplated on one side with nickeland on its other side with copper, substantially as specified,for thepurposes set forth.

ANDREW ONEILL.

lVitnesses:

R. D. WILLIAMs, GEo. H. PIsTEL.

